The Black-Hearted Ninja
by Brooklynisosm
Summary: "You know why you're the Black Ninja? Because it's the color of your heart!" A story of death, life, love, hate, and demons. When Cole is possessed by a demon, the rest of the ninja must find a way to get him back...or get rid of him...before their time runs out. (Also published on Wattpad, this is the edited version)
1. Something is Wrong

_**Chapter 1: Something Is Wrong**_

 **Nya**

The moment I awaken I know something is wrong.

There's a dropping feeling in my stomach, and my throat is tight, closed, and it's quiet.

Too quiet.

Slowly, I pull the covers away from my head. I sleep under them because one never knows what noises one might hear during the night when one lives with seven teenagers. As soon as I reveal my face to the world, I'm hit by a beam of sunlight. Flinching, I turn away from the window, shielding my eyes from the brightness. I don't like the dark, I never have, but the light can be a little much sometimes. Kai jokes that I'm a vampire. I tell him that if any of us were to be a vampire, it would be Cole, but he's already a ghost, and nobody can be two creepy paranormal things at once, right?

It doesn't matter. Vampires don't exist. I don't think. I didn't believe in ghosts, either, or possession, until Morro came along.

I close my eyes against the light, but there are spots in my vision, and I listen. I listen for any suspicious noises, really, any noises at all. The quiet is deep, almost as if my walls were made magically soundproof during the night.

Maybe I woke up early? But no, it's late October (my birthday was a few days ago), and in late October, the sun rises late, and as far as I know, this morning the sun is still blazing outside. Besides that, I feel better rested than I have in weeks, not the opposite. My head is still hazy from sleep, there's gunk in my eyes, and drool has dried on the side of my cheek. I check the clock on my bedside table (which is the most accurate one in the house; I like keeping perfect time) and see that it's eight in the morning.

 _Eight._

My sense of dread increases. It's a Monday, and on Mondays, Sensei wakes us up at six. He says it builds character to train before the sun rises in the freezing cold wearing nothing but a thin ninja GI. The rest of us hate it (except Zane; Zane wakes up that early anyway), but Wu insists. We aren't allowed coffee, even. Just herbal tea.

There's something going on here, I can sense it. Something bad.

They're all dead, that's it. Dead. Every last one.

They're all dead and Cole still owes me a birthday present.

 _The jerk._

I was expecting something great this year.

Motivated by this theory of death and undelivered gifts, I jump out of bed. I have blue sheets. Kai doesn't like them. Usually I make my bed (even if the world is ending or we have to go on a mission or something), because I like my room to be perfect, but today there's no time for perfection. Today I feel a sense of urgency and fear that can only be compared to how I felt the day my father died. Like the whole world is quiet, waiting for something, something huge.

The hall is as quiet as my room, and the stairs are, too. But when I come into the kitchen, there's a sign of life. Or, I guess death, because I don't think ghosts count as living creatures.

"Cole," I say. He's floating a few inches above the surface of a chair, eating. Do ghosts need to eat? I don't know. Cole eats anyway. He can chew the toast just fine, despite his teeth being transparent. "Where is everybody?"

Cole looks at me through his hair. There's a moment of silence.

"Asleep." Cole says, and takes another bite of toast.

"Oh." I sigh, and walk over to the table, pulling out a chair next to Cole. "I thought they were dead."

"Morbid." Cole says.

I shrug, and take a piece of his toast. (Jay and I are the only people allowed to take Cole's food. Jay because he's Jay and me because I can get away with anything around Cole.)

We sit there, not talking, comfortable silence, for a minute or so. Chewing. Toast is the only food Cole can't mess up, he's even ruined cereal. The bread is a little burnt, blackened around the edges, but it's good, and there's the right amount of butter.

"Why are they asleep?" I ask.

"Sensei didn't wake them up."

"Oh."

I eat another bite of toast.

"Why didn't Sensei wake them up?"

Instead of replying, Cole hands me a piece of paper. It looks old, with frayed edges, but someone's scribbled a note on it in green sharpie.

 _Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, Nya, Skylor, Pixal, and Lloyd,_

 _I have sensed that there is a disturbance in the balance between good and evil, a surge of power within the Darkness. When you read this, I will be traveling to the Dark Island to investigate. I have good reason to believe there may be a cure for Cole's transformation into a ghost on the island. I am not sure how long I will be gone, until then, keep Ninjago safe._

 _Do not follow me, and do not slack off._

 _Best wishes,_

 _Sensei Wu_

I look up from the paper, frowning.

"So he just left?" I say.

"Took the dragon." Cole nods.

"While we were all sleeping?"

"In the dead of night."

"No warning?"

" _I_ didn't know. The note was on the counter when I came in for food. I don't think Sensei planned this. He just sort of _went_." Cole brushes some hair out of his eyes. "Had a 'prophetic vision' or whatever."

"I just can't believe he left us without supervision. Bad move on his part, if you ask me." I say, setting down Sensei's note. "Eight teens, seven of us with elemental powers, riddled with drama, alone on a flying ship, charged with the duty to protect our world? Seems like a recipe for disaster."

Cole makes a weird noise, kind of like a sigh and a choke and a cough at the same time, but less frightening than its description and more…amused. I think he might be laughing. "At least _we'll_ be responsible." He says, touching my arm. That's something strange about Cole as a ghost. If I tried to touch his arm, my hand would go right through him. But if he touches me, his fingers are corporeal.

We're quiet again, Cole looking at me, me looking at his faintly glowing fingers where they touch my wrist. Cole doesn't glow very much in sunlight anymore, but at night he's luminescent. His hand is cold, kind of a damp cold. I don't mind.

"I thought something horrible had happened. I thought everyone was dead." I say, still watching Cole's hand.

Jay would say I think about death too much, but Cole just tells me, "That's probably a valid conclusion to jump to. I don't blame you."

My eyes travel up to meet his.

"I thought you had died without even giving me my birthday present. You're late enough as it is."

Cole's lips play with an idea of a smile, curving up at the corners. He rarely gives anyone a _real_ smile, when he does, it makes everybody wonder why he doesn't more often. Cole's smiles are magnetic. Today he's about halfway to the full deal. There's a hint of sadness behind his eyes that spoils the whole thing.

"I'm not going anywhere." He says, and when I lean on his shoulder, it's solid.

"I should hope not."

Cole and I have a strange relationship. He's depressing and occasionally emotionless and he eats more than he needs to. Cole can push my buttons in ways nobody else can, and I don't really think we're _supposed_ to be friends. On the other hand, we're close, and our friendship is unquestionable. Even when we're exchanging insults or reminding each other all the things we're doing wrong, even if we're in the middle of one of our huge arguments, Cole is on my side. He's reliable, and I find myself depending on him more than I should. Cole is my rock.

"When I woke up, I had this awful feeling that something bad had happened." I muse. "I guess I could tell that Sensei was gone. I thought it'd be worse."

"How do you feel now?" Cole says.

"Still uneasy." I admit. The twisted stomach sensation hasn't gone away.

"Well, no one's dead yet. And Wu will be gone for a couple weeks, tops. So I'm guessing there'll only be some minor injuries."

I laugh a little. It's bound to happen, what with all the infighting we seem to have. "This is going to be a crazy few weeks."

Cole gives a noncommittal sound, and I look up at him.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Cole says.

I shrug, and take another bite of toast. The sun shines through the windows like it has something to prove.

But the toast does nothing to ease the pit of dread in my stomach. And as much as I like it when Cole puts his arm around me, his quiet caring makes my chest hurt and my throat close.

And there are shadows where there shouldn't be.

And I don't know why.


	2. Shadows

**A/N Sorry I haven't updated for so long! I promise to update MUCH more frequently now that I've finally written Chapter 2!**

 **Thank you for reading my story, and if you like it, I'd love to hear your thoughts in a review!**

I can't shake the shadows all day.

They seem to follow me through the Bounty, glancing off of things bathed in sunlight, making the corners black in a way that fills me with unease.

 _You're imagining it, Nya,_ I tell myself. _You're just being paranoid._

Sensei said there was a disturbance in the 'balance between Good and Evil', and I'm starting to think this might be it.

I ask Kai if he notices anything, but he tells me to go away. "You're making stuff up again, Nya." My brother says. We're in the living room, him on the couch, me leaning on the back of it. Normally, this time of day, Kai would be training, but with Sensei now gone, he seems to think he can get away with anything. So far, Kai has played four hours of video games (with Lloyd, the only person willing to play. He lets Kai win because when Kai doesn't win, he rages.), had nothing but three cans of Coke for breakfast (because he can), and completely blown off any semblance of responsibility. Tonight he plans to go out and party.

Sometimes, I wonder if our parents lied to us about the birth order. Kai may be my older brother, but I'm the mature one. He's impulsive, I'm sensible, he's headstrong, I'm calculating.

Currently, Kai is staring at Skylor through the window. She's training, and she's amazing, but Kai is more interested in her tight outfit.

"It just…doesn't feel _right_. There are shadows everywhere, don't you see them?" I say, trying to regain Kai's attention.

"No." Kai sighs. "Now stop talking to me. I'ma ask Skylor out later and I need to prepare."

"What do you think it is?"

"I think it's love…" Kai's hazel eyes rest on Skylor again. I don't think he's admiring her fighting ability.

I smack the side of Kai's head, and before he can even mutter a 'Hey!', I say, "No, I mean the shadows! The bad feeling! The darkness."

"I think what it is is that you forgot to take your anxiety medicine." Kai rolls his eyes at me. "You're too serious, Nya. Now go away."

Siblings just don't understand sometimes.

I ask others, too, but they all tell me I'm making it up. Zane says I'm being superstitious and I'm probably just feeling a change in atmospheric pressure, and that it's October- of course it's dark. Pixal gives me a lecture about human psychology and tells me it's probably a metaphor for something else bad in my life. "Have you been suffering from depression lately? Or 'teen angst', a result of the hormones that are currently rampant in your body?"

"No, no, nothing like that." I reassure Pixal, who takes concern in everyone's health. Since Zane rebuilt her (with help from Jay and me), she's been the kindest person on the ship- the only one without some sort of drama or trauma or any other major issues. All the rest of us are messed up- not Pixal, who's probably the sweetest person I've ever met. Sometimes it seems like she exists only to help, and I try to make her life easier by not having any problems. It often doesn't work, because Pixal is my friend, and she can always tell when something's wrong.

Pixal hasn't seen any shadows either.

I ask Lloyd, who tells me to get more sleep and asks what Kai's doing.

I ask Skylor, who tells me I must be seeing things because it's "too damn bright today".

And by the time it's noon I've given up any hope of anyone understanding what's going on besides maybe Cole because Cole _gets_ me. (Which nobody understands.) He's probably still in the kitchen, I decide; I haven't seen him anywhere else. Either there or his room, and Kai told me not to go in Cole's room.

Whatever. I go in there anyway. I never listen to what Kai tells me to do anymore.

I'm near the training room on one side of the Bounty; the kitchen is on the other, and so I make my way down the hall. The shadows seem to grow even larger when nobody else is here, towering over me on the beige wallpaper.

This isn't the first time I've seen these shadows. They seem to follow me before things happen. Awful things.

The day the Skeletons came to attack Ignacia, I saw this darkness. And when the Serpentine were awakened by Lloyd, and the Great Devourer was released, and the day before the Overlord captured me, and the day Zane died, and when Lloyd was possessed by Morro.

The dark followed me when I stepped on the Perfect Match Machine.

When Cole turned into a ghost.

It's all I remember from the day my mother died. It's what I tried to forget when my father died. And my grandfather's body was shadowed as well, when I found him. My grandmother sleeps in the dark. Eternally.

I have a reason to be scared.

Kai doesn't believe me, but he never does.

I haven't had the heart to say, 'I told you so'.

Today, the Darkness is the worst.

I swear I hear it whispering.

"…Nyaaaaaa…"

"…Jaaaaaay…"

Our names are faint, and can be dismissed as nothing but my paranoid mind making up stories. I'm just scaring myself. I have to be rational. _Use logic, Nya_ , I tell myself _. You're smart. You're brave. Don't let yourself be fooled by anxiety…Lloyd's right. You need to sleep more._

But the Darkness is persistent, and this time I hear it in perfect clarity. No amount of imagination could conjure the crystal whisper in my ear.

"Cole…"

I stop as a shudder runs through my body, spreading from my rapidly beating heart to the tips of my fingers and toes and hair.

It isn't cold.

Is it?

I don't know. I just know I can't stay here.

I'm not sure how, exactly, I get out of the hall, but I find myself leaning against a wall for support, catching my breath as my heart rate slowly returns to normal.

 _Don't be so dramatic, Nya._

I'm fine; I have control now. The kitchen is right here; I hear voices behind the door.

"-you could have at least mentioned it! I like notification when big things happen, you know! I'm a part of the team as much as you are, mister high and mighty! You can't just mope around and expect me to figure stuff out by myself with no help because you might be smart enough or whatever, but not all of us are graced with your perfectness, y'know! Some of us actually have to work for what we have!"

Loud, irritated, indignant. Defending himself from someone who isn't trying to fight-

"Nobody ever tells me anything, I might as well just disappear, or die, or something…nobody would care- hi Nya!"

Jay stomps out into the hall, but his thunderstorm clears as soon as he sees me. A dazzling smile pierces the fog when the door slams shut, leaving Cole behind.

"Hi Jay." I say. "Why are you mad at Cole? Again?"

Jay shrugs. "I'm not mad at specifically Cole. I'm mad at everyone." He says. "I'm just yelling at Cole because I don't like him and I like ranting at him. I've been looking for Sensei all morning, cause I have to talk to him about something, and he wasn't anywhere, and so, finally, I was asking Cole where Sensei was and he said- get this- he said that Sensei LEFT. LAST NIGHT. Sensei left last night and nobody even bothered to tell me!"

"Oh." I say. We stand a foot away from each other, a very calculated distance. Careful. "I'm sorry. I didn't tell you either."

"It's okay. You didn't know I was looking for him." Jay waves it away like a stray strand of hair. "Even if you did, I couldn't blame you. I can't blame you for anything, Nya."

We stand here for a second, neither one knowing what to do with our hands. Or feet. I straighten my shirt, then straighten it again. Jay's fingers fiddle with each other.

It's awkward and I don't know why.

Whatever we had is over. I'm done with teenage love, it's nothing but trouble. I don't date anyone now, most especially not my best friends. That ship has sailed and sunk.

I don't know why, but pink spreads underneath Jay's freckles. I feel heat rising on my cheekbones as well.

 _You don't have to look at his eyes, Nya. You already know they're blue, there's no point in checking. People's eye colors don't suddenly change. Really, Nya, stop looking. Eye contact can be interpreted the wrong way all the time. You don't want to give anyone any ideas..._

"So!" Jay says, finally breaking the silence. "You know about my Sensei misadventure; what amazing things have happened to you today?"

"Nothing amazing," I reply. We begin to walk, side by side. I don't know where we're walking, but Jay always needs to be in motion. Standing still doesn't really work for him. "I slept in. Kai and Lloyd played video games for four hours and Zane baked cookies…" I try to think what else. "…Cole still owes me a birthday present…"

"Jerk." Jay mutters. I shrug uncomfortably.

"I don't think Cole's a jerk…I don't understand why you dislike him so much, Jay."

The pink under Jay's freckles turns less pink and more…red. "Cole just irritates me. You know what I'm talking about, right? When someone makes you just want to…" Jay makes some sort of shaking motion with his hands that I think must be synonymous with wringing Cole's neck.

Cole can have that effect on me, too. I insult him a lot, but I don't think Cole minds. It's more joking with us, whereas Jay is dead serious.

It's a strange reversal of roles.

"Anyway, he better get you one soon before it's Christmas." Jay jokes, his hands dropping but still shaking.

"I guess…"

Jay got me a new set of screwdrivers. Top-of-the-line, real inventor's screwdrivers. It was by far my best present. He tried to hide how much they cost, but I know Jay saved up all year for me and he's still $30 in debt to the other ninja, who lent him money.

Nobody had to tell me this.

It was the kind of gift Jay would give me when we were still dating. Before our relationship fell apart and I didn't try to fix it like I fix everything else.

A gift given with love.

"You look stressed." Jay interrupts my train of thought again. "Is there something wrong?"

"Uh…"

I've never told Jay about the shadows. Our conversations are normally about happy things; plans for the future, funny stories, interesting tidbits we've picked up somewhere. Jay knows about my parents' death, and I know about the bullying that tormented him in middle school. We've both talked about our anxiety issues, but never in detail. Darkness has no place in our lighthearted friendship, no matter how close it may be.

Cole is the only person who knows everything about the darkness that stalks me. Cole is the only person who knows a lot of things about me, I realize. We've been spending more and more time together lately, discussing our problems.

"I've had kind of a…bad feeling all day." I say, biting my lip.

"Really?" Jay's eyebrows rise without him realizing it.

"It's hard to explain…there are these weird…shadows that seem to follow me whenever something horrible happens, and they've been really bad today."

We've stopped walking.

Jay is gaping at me like I've just asked him to go out with me or something.

"Shadows?" He squeaks.

"Yeah. Darkness. And it feels cold, too-"

"I thought I was the only one!"

"Huh?" I frown at Jay, still processing what he said.

Jay's hands grab my shoulders.

"Nya," He says. "I see them too."


End file.
